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Re: Playoff Thread

RENTON, Wash. -- Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said Wednesday that his postgame comments Sunday were ''misdirected and immature" but he is not a villain or a thug.

"We're talking about football here, and a lot of people took it further than football," Sherman said. "I was on a football field showing passion. Maybe it was misdirected and immature, but this is a football field. I wasn't committing any crimes and doing anything illegal. I was showing passion after a football game.

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"It is what it is. Things like that happen and you deal with the adversity. I come from a place where it's all adversity, so what's a little more or people telling you what you can't do. I really was surprised. If I had known it was going to blow up like that I would have approached it differently, just in terms of the way it took away from my teammates. That's the thing I feel regretful about."

Sherman tipped away a pass in the end zone that was intended for San Francisco 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree in the final seconds of Seattle's 23-17 victory Sunday in the NFC Championship Game. Seattle linebacker Malcolm Smith intercepted the tipped pass to seal the victory.

Moments later, Sherman was interviewed on Fox Sports and was asked to describe the play.

"I'm the best corner in the game,'' Sherman said, yelling. "When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that's the result you're gonna get. Don't you ever talk about me."

Sherman then was asked who was talking about him.

"Crabtree,'' he said. "Don't you open your mouth about the best, or I'm gonna shut it for you real quick."

Sherman's comments became a national rage and caused a firestorm of criticism on Twitter.

Sherman was most concerned by the people who called him a thug.

"The reason it bothers me is it seems that's the accepted way now to call someone the N-word," Sherman said. "They say thug, and that takes me aback. Maybe I'm talking loudly on the field and saying things I'm not supposed to, but there was hockey game where they didn't even play hockey. They just threw the puck aside and started fighting. I thought, 'Oh man. I'm the thug? Geez.'"

[+] EnlargeRichard Sherman
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said he was simply "showing passion" after Sunday's game against the 49ers and wideout Michael Crabtree.
Sherman was referring to the Vancouver Canucks-Calgary Flames game last Saturday when a brawl took place two seconds into the game.

"I know some real thugs, and they know I'm the farthest thing from a thug,'' Sherman said. "I fought that my whole life because of where I've come from [the Compton neighborhood in Los Angeles]. You have a guy from Compton or Watts, they just think he's a thug. He's a gangster. You fight it for so long, and to have it come back up and hear people use it again is frustrating."

Sherman's postgame rant has led some pundits to dub the Super Bowl matchup against the Denver Broncos and quarterback Peyton Manning as The Villains versus The Virtuous.

"That's hilarious," Sherman said. "Any time you label [Seahawks quarterback] Russell Wilson a villain, it's got to be a joke. It's funny. We have too many great players who don't deserve that label and don't deserve to be looked at in that light. Russell Wilson and [Seattle safety] Earl Thomas have done nothing to deserve that.

"Now if they label me a villain, OK. Maybe my actions caused that, but I don't think I'm a villain. It's the old cliché: Don't judge a book by its cover. But they are judging the book by its cover. Judge me off the football field, not on the field right after a game is different. Now if I had gotten arrested 10 times, I could accept being a villain. But I've done nothing villainous."

Wilson came to Sherman's defense Wednesday.

"Richard has tremendous character,'' Wilson said. "He got fired up and I guess you would call it a mistake. But I know that's not how he is. He is one of the most intelligent people you will ever meet. He's one of my good friends, and I love him to death.

SN: Do You Like Richard Sherman?
SportsNationWhat did you think of Richard Sherman's postgame rant? Is Sherman the best CB in the NFL? Vote now »

"Richard is an unbelievable football player. I have tons of respect for him. He plays the game of football with tons of passion and tons of fire. It was one of those things where he just got excited. I know he apologized. He's a great teammate who always is focused on how he can improve and how he can help us win. He didn't mean to blow it all up."

Sherman said he was grateful for the people who came to his defense the past few days, including baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron.

"There were countless individuals, and Hank Aaron was one of them," Sherman said. "A lot of people reached out with support and I appreciate all of it, people who really know who you are and what you stand for. They are not as quick to judge."

Sherman said he has regrets, but he won't change who he is.

"I really don't know how to be anybody else,'' he said. "I can only be myself. I obviously will learn from my mistakes, try to do better in word situations and be more mature in understanding the moment.

"But I can't be someone else. I've tried it multiple times, and it cuts my game. If I put my all into it, you may catch me doing something like I did at the end of that game."

"It was really uncalled for," Thurmond told reporters Wednesday. "The receiver ran right into the guy. I don't know the extent of the injury Talib had, but I thought we were supposed to protect football players in this league now. I guess not. I guess that only goes one way."

The NFL cleared Welker of any wrongdoing for his hit on the New England Patriots' cornerback that proved to be a key play in the Denver Broncos' 26-16 win on Sunday.

Legwold Wes Welker has had his share of injuries this season. He knows what it is like to sit out and said he did not try to collide with Aqib Talib, writes Jeff Legwold. Blog

"It was a legal hit," NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said on the NFL Network on Wednesday night.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick blasted Welker for the hit on Monday, calling it "one of the worst plays" he's seen in 39 years of coaching. Talib suffered a knee injury on the play and didn't return to the game. Belichick said in a radio interview Wednesday that he didn't believe the cornerback would have to undergo surgery, however.

Thurmond, a fourth-year player, told reporters a penalty should've been called and that Welker may have received a "star" call from the officials.

"If you're intentionally coming at somebody, it's supposed to be a flag," Thurmond said. "But they didn't throw the flag on him. Some players get away with a lot more than other players depending on status, but that's just the nature of the game."

Thurmond said the play, which is called a "rub" or "pick" when a player tries to make contact with a defender, didn't apply because Welker never lifted his head.

"Welker had his head down, like he was coming down the whole time," he said. "That should be a flag, and he should be getting fined. There's a whole bunch of things that should happen in that situation, but I don't run the NFL."

Part of a secondary nicknamed the "Legion of Boom," Thurmond knows the Seahawks will have to deal with similar plays from the Broncos in the Super Bowl.

"We play a lot of man coverage, so we know they're going to have a lot of crossing routes like that," Thurmond said. "We're preparing for that situation to occur. We know that kind of contact is going to happen because we play so much man, and we'll be ready for it."

Re: Playoff Thread

Posted by Mike Florio on January 22, 2014, 11:46 PM EST
Belichick
AP
So how did the Broncos truly react to the contention from Patriots coach Bill Belichick that Denver receiver Wes Welker deliberately targeted New England cornerback Aqib Talib?

With “laughter,” according to Vic Lombardi of CBS 4 in Denver, who joined PFT Live on Wednesday.

Lombardi scoffed at the image of Welker, who suffered a pair of concussions this year, serving as “Knuckles Malone” for a Broncos team with much larger men like Julius Thomas and Demaryius Thomas, who could have done far more damage to Talib if that was the goal.

Other topics included the decision of offensive coordinator Adam Gase to advise the Browns he’ll be remaining in Denver, quarterback Peyton Manning’s preparations for playing in the New Jersey elements, and the question of whether the Broncos can match the physicality of the Seahawks.

Re: Playoff Thread

Late in the third quarter of the AFC Championship Game, with the Patriots facing fourth-and-3 at the 29-yard line, Bill Belichick decided to go for it. Tom Brady was sacked on the play, and Belichick has been kicking himself for it since.

Belichick said on WEEI that in hindsight, he thinks a 47-yard field goal to cut the deficit from 20-3 to 20-6 would have been the better call.

“Those three points would have been good to have at the end of the game if we would have made the kick, which we would have had a good chance to,” Belichick said, via Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com. “I felt like, at the time, we were down by 17 points, only had three points, and hadn’t got down there very much. I don’t think you’re going to beat Denver kicking field goals, but . . . if we would have had a field goal and then the two touchdowns we ended up getting later on, those would have been important points for us. I don’t know that was the right decision. It wasn’t, obviously, when we lost yardage on fourth down and gave the ball back without any points.”

Obviously, it didn’t work, so Belichick wishes the Patriots had called a different play on that fourth down. But I’m not so sure that going for it was the wrong call: As Belichick said, you’re not going to beat Denver kicking field goals. By that point in the game the Patriots were way behind and probably weren’t going to win either way, but that fourth-and-3 was not a bad call. Just a call that didn’t work.

Re: Playoff Thread

Fox Sports cut Richard Sherman short because it started to get ‘dangerous’

Why did Fox Sports cut short the Richard Sherman interview with Erin Andrews last Sunday? The network addressed the reason in full on Thursday afternoon during a conference call with Fox Super Bowl announcers and production staffers.

“I saw a train coming down the tracks,” said Fox Sports producer Richie Zyontz, who produced the Seahawks-Niners game. “It was compelling television. And like Joe [Buck] had mentioned earlier [during the conference call] we kind of had a preview of that in our production meeting [with Sherman]. It started crossing over a line that I did not want to see us go. Erin handled it very well, but I kind of said, Let’s end this thing. He’s a good guy, an intelligent guy, an emotional guy and it was very compelling to watch. But it started getting a little dangerous for us.”

Fox announcer Joe Buck said Sherman discussed his issues with Niners receiver Michael Crabtree during a production meeting a couple of days before the game.

“He wasn’t crazy,” Buck said. “We went player by player and obviously as a corner he is going to cover a lot of guys. He said he [Crabtree] was mediocre receiver, which is what he said to the world after the game, anyway. You know those meetings are really privileged information and this kind of went into a different category and it was not our place or our desire to start up any personal feuds that a guy may have with another guy. If we start down that path as announcers, I think we are working our way into a dumb area. That is not something we are about. Richard handled that the way Richard wanted to handle that after the game and it was maybe surprising to know that what he told us in a seemingly quiet moment, he said to the world.”

While the Sound FX footage above makes it appear that Sherman walked away from Andrews, Fox producers said on Thursday that they cut away

1995 and 2012 would have to be especially haunting. 95 was the closest he ever got as a player, and 2012 was losing the Super Bowl by 3 points as a coach. For as talented as that SF team is, there are no guarantees that they'll get there again. It's just so damn hard to get to the Super Bowl.

Re: Playoff Thread

A funny take from Jim Rome:

He’s 9 days out from his 3rd Super Bowl, and Peyton Manning’s probably got his beak permanently stuck in his iPad watching every snap the Seahawks have ever taken.

But it turns out Little Brother wants to chip in. Eli lives there, balls there and plans to give Peyt the Intel on how to thrive there. Then again, exactly what is Eli going to tell Manning that he doesn’t already know? They met straight up in that house earlier this season, Peyton hung 41 on Eli and little bro was picked off 4 times. And right now the only thing they have in common is DNA.

Sure, there was a time when Eli could tell Peyton how to play in that house….but I’m not sure even he knows anymore. I mean, you’re not going into the dark room and breaking tape of the Seahawks, are you, E? They picked you off FIVE times! Curtis Painter came off the bench and outplayd you! If I didn’t know any better, my man, I’d say you were trying to sabotage your brother so you can stay in the 1-hole in the Family Ring Count.

If you’re really about helping your bro get ready for this guy, the best thing you can do is get out of town. Because he’d be better off taking his tips from Cooper.

Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has been the talk of not just the NFL, but the entire country as a result of the rant that was broadcast to 50 million viewers after the NFC Championship Game. Sherman finds the outcry hard to believe.

“It was really mind-boggling the way the world reacted,” Sherman told Rachel Nichols of CNN.

Sherman said that on reflection, he probably shouldn’t have verbally attacked 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree in his post-game interview.

“And that was immature and I probably shouldn’t have done that. I regret doing that,” Sherman said.

Sherman added that people who know him off the field know him as being more thoughtful and reflective than he sounded on Sunday.

“I’ve always been a square, a nerd. Kind of odd, kind of awkward,” he said. “I still am to this day. People just think I’m a lot cooler ’cause I play football.”

It’s amazing how famous Sherman has become, even among non-football fans, in the last six days. And now he’s about to reach an even wider audience at the Super Bowl.

Re: Playoff Thread

also mind-boggling to hear the NFL say that the block shown below did not happen before the touching of the pass that is merely about to happen below.

not dirty, not fine-able, but a missed OPI call.

The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!)

Re: Playoff Thread

Earlier today, while walking through Target (of all places), it hit me (admittedly, several days late) that A. I owe Erin Andrews a big apology; B. I’m an idiot.

Admittedly, Erin Andrews probably doesn’t read this blog. But perhaps she heard of the post I wrote last week—the one where I called her “the Kardashian of televised sports.”

In a word: Awful.

Writers are responsible for their words. They’re supposed to measure what they write, then measure it again and again and again. Sometimes, unfortunately, I fail to measure. An impulse shoots through my brain, and I fire away, press SAVE, then press PUBLISH. I have an idea of what I want to convey, but I don’t bother to make sure it’s conveyed properly.

Guilty, times 1,000.

First, what the blog was supposed to convey: I love televised sports. But I hate (I mean, truly hate) the way network executives have reserved the sideline reporter position for women, while keeping the play-by-play and lead analyst roles almost exclusively male. I have met many, many, many women in sports media who offer tremendous insight; who know the game as well as anyone you’ll meet; who can break down plays like Chuck Noll and explain the intricacies like Kenny Smith. And yet, they are rarely considered for the key two slots.

Furthermore, when it comes to women reporters, networks (in my opinion) place too great an emphasis on looks. I know … I know—it’s a visual medium, and attractiveness draws viewers. Still, it strikes me as an awful double standard. Nobody’s demanding beauty and sexiness from, say, Chris Berman or Joe Buck or Stuart Scott. Yet it seems that—bottom line—women with sex appeal have an inside track over women with fantastic knowledge and poise but, say, a belly. Or a mole. I get it. Really, I do. It just infuriates me, because I’ve known very talented women who have felt they don’t really have a shot.

So … that’s what I meant to convey. And, interestingly, I received several e-mails from women in sports media, thanking me for making the point. But, ultimately, I failed miserably. I blasted Erin Andrews and killed the entire intent. The post wound up being juvenile and stupid. Some accused me of being sexist—which effing tore at my insides, in that the whole goal was to speak on behalf of women. Boy, that went over well.

PS: To the people on Twitter who have expressed your disgust with me—100 percent right on. One. Hundred. Percent. I earned it.

PPS: An important point: Oftentimes, when people work for corporations, the corporate entity forces an apology in a neatly worded statement. To be clear: I work for no one. I’m apologizing because my post sucked, and she deserved better. No other motive. I was wrong—period.

Re: Playoff Thread

Linebacker Patrick Willis joined the other members of the 49ers originally selected to the Pro Bowl in passing on the chance to play in the game and it seems his left thumb was a reason for his decision.

Willis posted pictures on his Instagram account that showed a cast on his left hand and Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee reports via a league source that the cast is a result of recent surgery on his thumb. Willis was not on the injury report heading into the NFC Championship Game, although there’s no word on whether he suffered the injury during the loss to the Seahawks.

Willis broke a bone in his right hand in preseason, but did not wind up missing any time during the regular season. It was the fourth time he’d broken a bone in that hand, but the left side issues are a new one for Willis. He also missed a couple of games this season because of a groin injury.

There wouldn’t seem to be much risk of Willis missing the team’s offseason work as a result of the surgery, although he may be limited at times once the 49ers start getting ready for next season.

Re: Playoff Thread

I know the Pro Bowl isn't popular, but this has been the best game in years. The draft is turning out to be a great idea, as is the change to allow man to man coverage. This is fun...6 TOs and 6 sacks in the first half

Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.

Re: Playoff Thread

The candy brand will announce on Tuesday a formal deal with the Seattle Seahawks running back, whose relationship with the sweet dates to when his mother started giving him what she called "power pellets" in his Pop Warner playing days.
To celebrate its partnership with Marshawn Lynch, Skittles has made limited-edition packages of a "Seattle Mix," a bag that includes only blue and green candies.
While specific terms of the deal are unknown, sources told ESPN that Lynch will receive financial compensation. The brand also will donate $10,000 to Lynch's Fam First Foundation every time he scores a touchdown in Sunday's Super Bowl.

The deal marks the first time the rainbow candy brand ever has paid an athlete.

To celebrate the partnership, Skittles has made limited edition packages of a "Seattle Mix," a bag that includes only circles of blue and green colors that the brand will hand out this week.

Lynch's connection with Skittles, combined with the team's success, has caused some Seattle-area supermarkets to run short on the candy on home game weekends.

That's partly due to the fact that the Seahawks have been giving Lynch "rainbow showers" when he scores touchdowns.

Delaware North, the food vendor at Seattle's CenturyLink Field, recently began selling the "Beast Mode" burger, which includes a side of Skittles.

The brand also will donate $10,000 to Marshawn Lynch's Fam First Foundation every time he scores a touchdown in Sunday's Super Bowl.
It doesn't stop there. A butcher in Puyallup, Wash., located 30 miles south of Seattle, is selling hot sausage links with Skittles inside.

Striking a deal with Lynch still could turn into a bargain for the brand. Last week, media monitoring company Kantar Media told Ad Age that Lynch's presence in the Super Bowl could be worth as much as $5 million to Skittles.

As part of its deal with the running back, Skittles also will be auctioning off a Skittles-covered football helmet and football, and a Skittles-covered megaphone, to honor Seattle's 12th man.

Skittles doesn't have an official deal with the NFL, but two brands owned by its parent company, Mars, do: M&M's and Snickers. Skittles currently has the 17th-most popular Facebook fan page among all brands with more than 25 million fans.

Re: Playoff Thread

He’s 9 days out from his 3rd Super Bowl, and Peyton Manning’s probably got his beak permanently stuck in his iPad watching every snap the Seahawks have ever taken.

But it turns out Little Brother wants to chip in. Eli lives there, balls there and plans to give Peyt the Intel on how to thrive there. Then again, exactly what is Eli going to tell Manning that he doesn’t already know? They met straight up in that house earlier this season, Peyton hung 41 on Eli and little bro was picked off 4 times. And right now the only thing they have in common is DNA.

Sure, there was a time when Eli could tell Peyton how to play in that house….but I’m not sure even he knows anymore. I mean, you’re not going into the dark room and breaking tape of the Seahawks, are you, E? They picked you off FIVE times! Curtis Painter came off the bench and outplayd you! If I didn’t know any better, my man, I’d say you were trying to sabotage your brother so you can stay in the 1-hole in the Family Ring Count.

If you’re really about helping your bro get ready for this guy, the best thing you can do is get out of town. Because he’d be better off taking his tips from Cooper.

Re: Playoff Thread

maybe off topic but I was in the car today picking my son up from school.

No link, but the Dan LeBatard show today (790 the Ticket in Miami) aired a media day interview of Wes Welker with Deion Sanders. Wes's speech sounded a little slurred, to be honest. They then pulled up clips from 8 years ago, when he was a Dolphin.

They alternated back and forth, clips from 2006 and clips from today. (I think it was LeBatard- either them or ESPN 106.3)

To be honest, it DOES sound like he has some scrambled eggs in his head that he did not have before. I don't mean to be flippant about brain damage, but it sounded pretty amazing, the comparison. He does not speak like the same person. And I'm not talking about an Oklahoma accent.

They also played a clip from today where he was asked if he would ever cover up concussion-like symptoms to play in a big game. His answer was to laugh and say "of course, we all would"

Not to be reactionary, but I am SERIOUSLY worried about this guy's future.

Last edited by Slick Pinkham; 01-28-2014 at 08:55 PM.

The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!)

The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!)